


Two First Dates (Frerard)

by Rachel_Carter



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Bad First Date, First Date, Fluff, Frank/Gerard - Freeform, Frerard, Gerard saves Frank, M/M, MCR, Mike is late, Non-Band AU, Waiter Gerard, awkward first date, awkward frank, frank iero - Freeform, gerard way - Freeform, mike is a jerk, restaurant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:30:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8576785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Carter/pseuds/Rachel_Carter
Summary: Frank hasn't been on a date in far too long. When his friend sets him up with Mike Fuentes, the terrible date is saved when waiter Gerard Way steps in.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fluffy first date fic!  
> This is an AU where Gerard and Frank aren't in a band. I'd really appreciate feedback/comments/suggestions so I can try to improve! I'd also love suggestions for other fanfics.

Frank checked his phone for the fourteenth time that night, placing it back on the table with a little more force than necessary. Raising a hand, he signalled to the waiter who’d been eyeing him sympathetically from the corner. The man – Gerard, as he’d introduced himself when he’d led Frank to his seat – walked over, his shock of red hair making him easily identifiable amidst the muted browns of the restaurant.

‘What can I get you?’ he asked, pulling a notepad and pencil from the back pocket of his dangerously tight jeans.

Frank rubbed at his forehead, completely aware of how pathetic he looked. ‘Uh, could I just get some more water for the table please?’ he sighed.

Gerard nodded, tucking the notepad away and turning to the kitchen.

This had been a mistake. 

Frank hadn’t been on a date in years – not since his high school boyfriend had broken up with him on the last day of school. Now, in college and incredibly single, his friend Ray had decided to set him up. Without asking him. In fact, Frank had only been told that morning when Ray called him up to tell him that he had reserved a table for him and his date – Mike Fuentes – and to be there at seven or never speak to him again. Ray was nice like that.

Frank glanced around the restaurant, feeling heat begin to rise in his cheeks. The walls were a tasteful light brown, with lamps evenly spaced to create a soft glow. Frank’s table was against one of the walls, near the corner – the perfect spot for private conversation. Glass panes lined the front of the restaurant, with doors leading out to the veranda. The kitchen was located in the back of the restaurant, with a bar lining the back wall. Frank could use a drink, but it seemed impolite to order without his date. Instead, he took another brief sip of water and loosened the collar of his white shirt, wishing he’d worn something less constricting. He resisted the urge to check his phone again, well aware of what it would tell him – 7:46pm, no new messages. 

Every table was occupied with couples, gazing at each other over pasta and bread. Frank’s breathing quickened. He looked over at the entrance and saw people lined up at the door, eyeing him. He looked down hurriedly. Should he leave? How long did he have to wait until he knew he was being stood up? Is there a set time limit? Mike might be having a family emergency or a car accident or something. Just as Frank began to rise from his seat, the waiter returned with a fresh pitcher of water. Frank sat back down in a rush.

‘Thank you,’ he said, staring down at the table in humiliation.

‘No problem,’ Gerard replied, his voice tinged with sympathy. ‘Do you want to order?’

Frank sighed. ‘Uh, no. I should probably wait a bit longer, I don’t want to be rude.’

Gerard let out a short laugh. Frank’s head shot up. Was he being laughed at?

Gerard noticed Frank’s pained expression and hurried to explain. ‘It’s just – I think the real rude person is whoever stood you up. You’ve been here since – what? Seven?’ Gerard shook his head, and looked as if he were about to continue, but at that moment, a man slid into the chair opposite Frank. Gerard opened his mouth, then closed it again, his jaw setting tightly as he took in the man sitting before Frank.

He was wearing a snapback cap tilted sideways, and a grey T-shirt with the word ‘anthem’ scrawled across in white lettering. Tattoos covered his bare arms and peeked out from above the neckline of his shirt. Low-hanging jeans completed the look. Suddenly, Frank felt ridiculously overdressed.

‘Frank Iero, am I right?’ the man asked, leaning back in his chair. ‘Ray showed me pictures. Not bad.’

Frank seemed to have lost his voice. Thankfully, Gerard stepped in for him. ‘Hello. Would you like to order now? After-’ he checked his watch in an exaggerated manner. ‘Fifty minutes of waiting?’ His voice was saturated with false politeness. Frank’s jaw dropped, but Mike didn’t seem to notice.

‘Yeah, that’d be great. I’m starved.’ He leaned over to Frank, not so much as glancing at Gerard. ‘Band practice ran late.’ He shrugged. ‘I got caught up.’  
Frank nodded, smiling at him. He didn’t miss the fact that Mike hadn’t apologized. The table went awkwardly silent for a few seconds, until Gerard clapped his hands. 

‘Okay. Menus.’

Frank sat across from Mike as Gerard walked away to get their menus. He tried to console himself. Just because Mike was a bit late didn’t mean they couldn’t have a nice time together. He should just relax and enjoy the date.

Gerard returned in a rush, handing them each a cloth-bound menu. Frank thanked him, and began to flip through the pages, grateful for something to do with his hands.

‘So you’re in a band?’ Frank asked, desperate to start some sort of conversation.

‘Yeah,’ Mike replied. ‘We’re called Pierce The Veil. We’re just starting out though. Heard of us?’

Frank shook his head.

‘Yeah, it’s a pretty big deal. We’re looking for our big break, playing at bars and stuff. Anyway, that’s how I met Ray. After one of our shows. He said you haven’t dating in a while, huh?’

Frank nodded, taking a sip of water. He was going to kill Ray.

At that moment, Gerard reappeared from the kitchen, notepad and pencil firmly in hand. ‘So, are you two ready to order?’ he asked, a bright smile plastered on his face. 

Mike didn’t look up. ‘I’ll have a beef burger.’

Frank looked up apologetically. ‘Uh, could I have the chicken salad? Thanks.’

Gerard nodded briskly, smiling at Frank. ‘No problem. Okay, it should be here soon. If you need anything, just shout.’

‘Thanks,’ Frank said.

Gerard took their menus and walked away from their table.

Mike turned to Frank. ‘You know, you don’t really look like the picture Ray showed me.’

Frank forced a smile. ‘No?’

‘Nah. I think you might have been younger. You were hot when you were young. I reckon if you cut your hair though, maybe changed up your style a little-’ Mike gestured to himself, clearly his gold standard for fashion – ‘you could be hot.’ Not that you’re not cute or anything, you’ve got that whole shy look down.’ 

‘Uh… thanks,’ Frank replied, silently wishing that Gerard would return.

‘So, what are you doing in college?’ Mike asked, pouring himself a glass water from the pitcher.

‘I’m studying art history,’ Frank replied. ‘I really love the course, it’s-’

Mike cut him off. ‘I dunno man, art history isn’t really a great choice. I mean, I wouldn’t have chosen it, personally. There aren’t really a lot of jobs.’

Frank bit down on the reply that bands don’t tend to generate lots of jobs. Instead, he decided to change the subject. Maybe he just hadn’t gotten to know Mike enough. ‘So, uh, did you choose the restaurant? It’s a nice place.’

Mike glanced around as if he were seeing the room for the first time. ‘Nah, I just let Ray pick. I wasn’t sure when he asked me if I wanted to go out with you, so I just kinda let him take over. This place is a bit fancy for my taste though. I bet they have, like, $300 wine here.’

Frank chucked. ‘I could use some $300 wine right now,’ he mumbled under his breath.

There was an awkward pause.

Just as Frank was going to say something – anything – to end the silence, Gerard reappeared from the kitchen, his bright hair a welcome relief from the dull conversation. Frank huffed a breath of relief. 

‘Breadsticks on the house,’ he exclaimed, smiling at Frank and shooting him a look of pity. He set the breadbasket down on the table. 

‘Thank you so much,’ Frank replied. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to pay?’

Mike rolled his eyes. ‘Dude, if it’s free, don’t complain.’

Gerard scowled at Mike, then turned back to Frank. ‘Trust me, it’s fine. You deserve it after that wait,’ he said, the not-so-subtle jab at Mike going straight over his head.

‘Yeah, we’ve been waiting for our food for a while,’ Mike said.

Gerard looked at him for a few seconds, his lips pressed together to hide a smirk. ‘Yeah. I’ll get on that.’

As Gerard went to leave he held Frank’s gaze and smiled apologetically. Frank smiled back, blushing slightly. He felt terrible for Gerard – he should have said something about Mike being rude, but he was so embarrassed he didn’t know what to do. He mouthed ‘Sorry’, at Gerard. He waved it away, turning to leave.

‘I’m not sure the food here’s going to be so good. I checked out the kitchen on my way it – it didn’t look great.’ Mike’s attempt at conversation drew Frank’s attention back to his date.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he replied noncommittally, but he was starting to get annoyed. This date had been a terrible idea, why had Ray thought that he would like this guy? He looked around the room desperately, wondering if there was any polite way to say he wanted to leave. He took a breadstick from the basket, hoping the baked good would make up for the lousy conversation.

Pulling it apart with his hands, he said, ‘I love your tattoos. Where’d you get them?’

Mike grinned, raising his arms and flexing his biceps. ‘Yeah? They’re pretty cool, huh? I got them at this studio a little way down from my apartment. They gave me a discount ‘cause they know me, so I decided to go all out. A lot of people think that getting tattoos hurts, but it didn’t really bother me. I have a high pain threshold.’

Frank nodded, wishing the table was near a socket so he could stick his fork into it. ‘Yeah, sounds cool.’

Gerard reappeared in that moment from the kitchen, like an angel to save him from this terrible date. Or at least to bring food. 

He placed down two plates in front of each of them, grinning down at Frank. ‘Here are your meals. Sorry to keep you waiting,’ he said to Frank. Frank smirked. 

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Mike replied. ‘I mean, I won’t get that time back or anything. But don’t worry.’

Gerard looked as though he was holding in a laugh. ‘Can I get you anything else?’

‘Yeah, I’ll get a beer’ Mike said. ‘Something cheap. None of that fancy shit.’

‘Sure,’ Gerard replied, his honeyed tone masking irritation. ‘Would you like anything…’ He paused, waiting for Frank to volunteer his name.

‘Frank,’ he said.

‘Frank,’ Gerard repeated, a smile playing on his lips. Frank felt warm inside, and a blush rose to his cheeks, but he held Gerard’s gaze. Gerard made his name sound interesting… unique. Gerard’s hazel eyes were warm and understanding, as if he knew that Frank felt like throwing himself off a cliff. His red hair curled around his ears and over his eyes, and Frank got the sudden urge to run his fingers through it.

Mike coughed. Frank jumped and broke eye contact, his knee hitting the table and jolting it. The cutlery jumped and clattered. Blood rose to his cheeks, and he swore. 

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’

‘Whatever,’ Mike said, picking up his burger and beginning to eat.

Frank could feel his face burning. He looked to Gerard desperately, who just gave him a smile and turned to go back to the kitchen.

Frank picked up his cutlery silently and starting his salad. Mike leaned forward, his mouth full of burger. ‘Was he, like, hitting on you?’

Frank choked on a piece of lettuce. ‘Oh, I don’t think-’

‘That’s pretty fucking rude. Can’t he see that we’re on a date? God, some people just have no boundaries.’

Frank felt himself growing angry. He could handle slights directed at him, but Gerard had been nothing but courteous to him as he had suffered through this night.  
‘I really don’t think that-’

Mike placed his burger down. ‘Even when I was with my last boyfriend, people would just always be hitting on him. I mean, have some self-respect. It was pretty obvious we were dating. Like, a hickey is pretty hard to miss.’ Mike paused. ‘Though I guess we never really would have worked out. He was kind of annoying. Really hot though.’

Frank looked down at his salad, gripping his fork tightly. He wondered how long until it was an appropriate time to end the date. They had to at least finish dinner, right? Oh god, what if Mike wanted dessert?

Frank cleared his throat. ‘This salad is great. How’s your burger?’

Mike shrugged. ‘It’s not bad. A bit dry. I have some mates who are really good cooks though, so I guess my standards are kind of high.’

‘Oh?’ Frank asked, trying to appear interested. He fought the urge to check the time on his phone. 

‘Yeah.’

The table went silent once again. Frank was overcome with the desire to bash his head into the table. Maybe then he’d have to go to the hospital and this disaster of a date would be over. Anxiety overcame him, and he began to sweat. Frank had never been good with dealing with stress, or unpleasant people. He was too accommodating, too afraid to hurt feelings. It was part of the reason that he hadn’t wanted to renter the dating scene. 

He looked around, hoping for a topic of conversation to present itself. He noticed Gerard walking back over to them and his nausea dissipated.  
Gerard gave a bright smile as he approached the table. ‘Here’s your beer,’ he said, leaning over to place Mike’s drink in front of him. As he was placing it down, he stumbled, the drink spilling all over Mike’s jeans. Mike jumped up, swearing profusely. Gerard grabbed at the glass, catching it and placing it – now empty – on the table. Frank sat, frozen in place.

‘I’m so sorry! Here, use this napkin,’ Gerard said, handing Mike a cloth. Mike snatched it from his hands, glaring at him. 

‘Didn’t they fucking train you at this place?’

‘I’m so sorry sir. Your meal is on the house,’ Gerard said, bending down to clean up the beer that had spilled on the floor. Couples at tables around the restaurant were looking in their direction and whispering. Frank buried his head in his hands.

‘Damn right it is,’ Mike shot back, storming off in the direction of the bathroom. 

As soon as he was gone, Gerard straightened and slid into the seat that Mike had just vacated.

‘Sorry about that. You just looked like you needed someone to save you.’

Frank raised his head and stared at Gerard. ‘Wait. You did that on purpose?’

Gerard grinned slyly. ‘Do you really think you could have gotten through that whole meal?’ He hesitated. ‘Unless you liked him? Oh, I’m so sorry, you liked him, didn’t you, I completely misread-’

‘Are you serious?’ Frank said. He was fighting to contain incredulous laughter. ‘You think I liked him? He was a tool. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to survive that dinner. Thank you so much.’

Gerard visibly relaxed. ‘Oh thank god. He was just so rude. And I was thinking of how long he made you wait and I overheard the things that he said to you and I got so angry.’

At that moment, Mike stalked back from the bathroom. He stopped dead when he saw Gerard sitting in front of Frank.

‘What the hell are you doing?’

Gerard stood. He was a good deal shorter than Mike, and a good deal less physically intimidating. But in that moment, he seemed like the most powerful man in the room. ‘You’ve been a total dick. Frank here has been nothing but wonderful all night, even after you made him wait fifty fucking minutes to spend time in your miserable company.’ Gerard turned to Frank. ‘I suggest a do-over. Would you go on a date with me instead?’ 

Frank forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. Then he smiled hesitantly. ‘I’d love to.’

‘Good. Let’s go.’ Gerard briskly untied the black apron that was wrapped around his waist. He turned back to Mike, who hadn’t moved and was staring at the two of them, dumbstruck. ‘And don’t worry about the tip.’ 

Then Gerard grabbed Frank’s hand and led him out of the restaurant. They weaved between tables of couples staring blatantly, but for once, Frank didn’t mind that they were looking. When they got out of the restaurant, Frank turned to Gerard. ‘You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know.’ 

Gerard furrowed his brow. ‘Are you kidding?’

Frank rushed to explain. ‘Look, you really saved me in there, but if you were just saying that so he’d leave me alone-’

Gerard burst out laughing. ‘You honestly think I don’t want to go on this date with you? Wow, you must have been pretty preoccupied. I couldn’t take my eyes off you in there.’

Frank blushed. ‘I doubt that.’

Gerard didn’t release his hand, instead leading him along the path outside the restaurant. The streets were quiet, and street lamps lit the path. Cafes and shop fronts lined the pathway on one side, with a street on the other and a park on the far side of the street.

‘Oh yes,’ Gerard replied. ‘From the moment you walked in, I was wondering if you were into men. And while you were sitting there, waiting… I just wanted to take that seat. When your date came, I had to keep myself from punching him. How did you even get stuck with such a bad date?’

Frank shook his head at the pavement, smiling to himself. ‘My friend Ray set us up. Apparently he knew Mike from his band, and we go to the same college. He was… pretty insistent.’

Gerard grinned. ‘Well at least it meant you came to the restaurant. So, I heard you’re studying art history huh?’

Frank nodded, inwardly beaming at the fact that Gerard had heard – and remembered. ‘Yeah, I’d love to work in an art gallery or something. I would have taken an arts course, but I’m not very good at actually drawing.’ He smiled self-consciously. ‘Are you in college?’

‘I’m going to an arts school actually,’ Gerard said. ‘I want to be a comic book artist. I’ve started some already, but I’m not sure I’ll have much time to work on them with all my assignments.’

Frank nodded sagely. He was well acquainted with assignments. ‘That’s really cool. I’d love to see them sometime.’

‘Really?’ Gerard asked, his eyes flicking up to meet Frank’s from beneath his thick eyelashes. 

‘Yeah,’ Frank replied softly. The notion of seeing Gerard’s own thoughts in colour and print… it fascinated Frank. Drawings crafted by Gerard’s long pianist fingers – which were currently wrapped around Frank’s. Frank felt tingly and light. ‘I’d love to,’ he repeated.

Frank looked at Gerard, and noticed that for the first time that evening he looked self-conscious. Frank paused. ‘Are you blushing?’ he asked, voice high with incredulity. 

Gerard snorted, looking down and bumping Frank with his shoulder playfully. ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever.’

‘You are so blushing!’ Frank teased. 

Gerard suddenly stopped walking and pulled Frank to him until they were close enough to share breath. Frank stopped laughing. Gerard slowly lifted his hand from Frank’s hand and up to his face. He gently brushed a strand of hair from in front of Frank’s eyes. Frank’s heart stopped. Gerard leaned in until Frank could feel his warm breath on his ear. 

‘Who’s blushing now?’ Gerard whispered, his lips lightly brushing Frank’s ear. Frank let out a shaky breath. 

‘That’s cheating,’ he managed.

‘Oh yeah?’ Gerard murmured. ‘And what’s this?’

Gerard moved from Frank’s ear to his lips, and when they touched, Frank melted. Gerard bit down gently on Frank’s bottom lip and Frank moaned softly, opening his mouth to let Gerard in. Frank’s hand went up to Gerard’s head, his fingers weaving through that beautiful red hair as he’d so desperately wanted to earlier in the evening. Gerard pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around his back and ran them over his shoulder blades. Their lips moved against each other in sync, and their gasping breaths filled the quiet night. Gerard pulled his mouth away from Frank’s and down his jawline, kissing his way to Frank’s neck. Frank’s head tilted back as he let out a breathy sigh, his eyelashes fluttering. Gerard grinned and bit down lightly on his neck, making Frank’s breathing stutter. Finally, Gerard pulled away, breathing heavily. Their clothes were mussed and their hair wild, and they looked at each other silently. Then Gerard smiled roguishly.

‘So, is that a yes to a second date?’

Frank grinned back. ‘Maybe if you walk me home.’


End file.
